Caramelized Onion Mushroom Gorgonzola Garlic Bread

Here are the details of how to put the caramelized onion mushroom gorgonzola garlic bread together.

This caramelized onion mushroom gorgonzola garlic bread is unlike anything you have ever eaten before. If you love sweet and savory, you will love this recipe. There is no better appetizer to serve at your next party, there is nothing better to pair up with your pasta dinner and it is perfect for dinner tonight. The bread can also be made with a vegetarian in mind. I obviously can't say enough about this earthy creation of mine, oh yes, it's easy to make. What more could you ask for?

The best bread that you can buy to make this dish is a ciabatta. It is crispy and crunchy on the outside and moist with lots of holes to fill with flavor on the inside. Ciabatta is all natural and contains no preservatives. Chabaso Bakery is my favorite brand and most grocery stores are carrying it right now. I recommend getting the whole wheat so that you can keep this delicious food as skinny healthy as possible. On that subject, making your own bread type pizza at home is a much healthier option than ordering out a pizza because you have control over how it is made, plus it's much more delicious.

Start with a large sized fry pan (preferably stainless steel) and place on the stove top at medium to high heat with 3-4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. While the pan is warming, chop up your large sweet onion into small pieces (little squares) and add them to the pan. Sprinkle the sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt and cracked pepper over the onions and stir. Let the onions start out strong to get them going in the oil, but then turn the burner down to medium low for the remainder of the cooking process. Keep an eye on them and continue to stir every few minutes to ensure they aren't burning or sticking to the pan. While the onions are caramelizing, thinly chop your mushrooms and put aside. TIP: Do not wash your mushrooms, because they are like little sponges, they will soak up all the water which will make them chewy when cooked. Just use a moist towel and lightly remove any dirt.

Towards the end of the cooking process, when the onions are sticky sweet and have browned the bottom of your pan, pour in a 1/4 cup of the chicken stock to deglaze and pick up all the additional flavor, let it cook down until it is gone. Caramelized onions take about 45 minutes to make and should be light brown in color when finished. I will tend to make a big batch of them and store in the refrigerator because it's a great time saver to prep for this or any dish, plus I add them to almost everything. You could even sweeten up the healthy chicken cacciatore recipe that we talked about here, by adding them in or topping each dish.

Remove the caramelized onions from your pan and put aside. Put that same pan back on the burner, add another 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, let come up to medium high heat and add the cremini mushrooms. The goal is to get some color on them, browning the mushrooms a bit will add more flavor to the bread. TIP: Wait until the mushrooms are nearly finished before adding salt and pepper. Adding salt too soon will suck the moisture out of the mushrooms before they have a chance to brown and will make them tough. Once the mushrooms are finished, add your onions back into the pan and stir together and turn off the burner so that they can cool a little.

Preheat your oven to a high broil. Put the ciabatta on a cutting board and using a bread knife, cut down the length of the bread. See all those beautiful holes and grooves inside? That is where we are going to put the flavors so that they can cook right in. Using a butter knife, put a coat of the Smart Balance Light Spread end to end. Chop up the 4 cloves of garlic really well, into very small pieces (or use a micro plane) and spread from end to end. Put the bread right onto the oven grates under the broiler and set the timer for 3-5 minutes, depending your particular range. Do not walk away! Keep a very close eye because it could very easily burn. While the bread is in the oven, chop or crumble up the gorgonzola.

Once the bread is browned and crispy to your liking, take it out of the broiler. Carefully cover with the mushroom onion mixture and then top with as much or as little of the gorgonzola that you would like and then place back under the broiler. The goal is to let the cheese melt and get bubbly, once that occurs, pull your bread out and let sit on the cutting board to set and cool. Top with the optional chopped flat leaf parsley, chop up and serve.

I hope that you love caramelized onion mushroom gorgonzola garlic bread as much as I do, enjoy!